3^rd International Conference on Battery and Fuel Cell Technology September 10-11, 2018 London, UK

Katsutoshi Ono, born in 1937 in Tokyo. He received his B. Eng. Degree from Kyoto University, Japan, in 1961 and the degree of Dr. Sci. from Faculté des Sciences, Université de Paris in 1967. He was researcher at Ecole des Mines de Paris, 1965-1967. He was Professor of Materials Science, Kyoto University, 1982-1997 and a Professor of Energy Science & Technology, Kyoto University, 1997-2001. He is currently Professor Emeritus.

The On-board electric power generation in the absence of external energy may be sufficient to realize tough electric vehicles. The method to charge the Li-ion battery modules in the present investigation differs from the conventional single voltage source scheme in that the power requirement is only 12% of the power required for typical direct voltage applications. This method utilizes the electrostatic-induction potential-superposed electrolytic charge (ESI-PSC). The on-board electric power generation system is an identical twin of battery modules that function in ESI-PSC mode, in which the performance can be explained through consecutive cycles of field-induced charge and discharge between two batteries (Fig.1). When the charge of one battery is terminated, it becomes responsible for both the power to recharge the other battery and the power to drive the motor. This power generation system works with zero energy input, zero matter input and zero emission, without violating the laws of thermodynamics. The commercially available Li-ion battery modules and power control systems enable the realization of this type of EVs. A simulation based on the official standard cruising mode (JCO08) showed that an electric vehicle with an on-board twin of 13.2 kWh energy capacity modules can travel 132 km before switching from charge to discharge.

Maximilian Fichtner is a full professor (W3) for Solid State Chemistry at the Ulm University and head of Materials-I at the Helmholtz-Institute Ulm for Electrochemical Storage (HIU), a German Center of Excellence in Battery Research, with approx. 120 employees. Since 2015 he is also Executive Director of the institute. His current research interest is on novel principles for electrochemical energy storage and the related materials in insertion and conversion-type battery systems. Recent work has focused on the new class of Li rich materials with rocksalt structure, anionic shuttles, magnesium batteries, and organic lectrode materials. He has published more than 250 research and conference papers and is (co-)author of 20 patent applications. His h index is 40.

The paper deals with current strategic approaches to develop battery technology further in direction of cost effective, powerful, safe, and sustainable systems. Recent work is presented from our group on post Li ion and post Li systems for electrochemical storage. In the field of Li-S batteries, it was possible to re-direct the reaction pathway of the sulfur reduction by melt infiltration of the sulfur in ultramicroporous carbon with pore diameters at around 0.5 nm. Thus, the reaction space is restricted and the spacious S8 ring cannot enter the pores. In effect, smaller allotropes of the sulfur are  infiltrated that are in equilibrium with the S8 until the sulfur has almost completely filled the pores. Moreover, the electrolyte cannot enter the small pores and the Li is stripped at the surface of the carbon, migrates and makes a quasi-solid-state reaction. In effect, no higher order polysulfides are formed and observed in the electrolyte over hundreds of cycles and only one voltage plateau is generated during cycling. Higher sulfur loaded (> 3 mg S/cm^2) electrodes can be made using this approach and less electrolyte may be used due to the lack of reacting polysulfides in the liquid. A logical step towards Li-free systems is the development of the Mg-S battery. This would be particularly attractive as Mg doesn’t form dendrites upon plating and can be used in metallic form without compromising the safety. Moreover, Mg is comparably cheap and abundant and the theoretical energy density of an Mg-S cell is higher than that of the Li-S couple. In this respect, a new nonnucleophilic electrolyte was developed that is compatible to sulfur and is easy to prepare from two ingredients while a variety of solvents can be used. Its electrochemical stability window is 4.3 V and first 20 Ah Mg-S cells were built and cycled for dozens of times. Still, the system suffers from degradation upon cycling, which is again due to the generation of polysulfides, electrode bleeding, and passivation of the Mg surface.